The Shattered Spectrum: Fragments

The party is split, some of them are trapped within the conflux currently being threatened by Dhat-Badan, who is confused and angered by the sudden outbreak of darkness within his conflux. The other part of the party has escaped the conflux and is now stuck on the outside looking in.

Dhat-Badan, who was briefly occupied by Fah-Ren’s spirit, is unsure what would happen should the corrupted Orkzim be slain within the bound of the conflux and ultimately decides that it would be better to “escort” them out and ensure they do not re-enter.

Meanwhile outside of the conflux Tess begins receiving messages in her head from O’Kenna. He is worried that the party has not made any progress on uniting the world against the coming darkness and says some things that lead Tess is begin to distrust him. Tess, who also knows of the spell being used to send these messages, determines that O’Kenna has left The Ways and is now on their plane of existence. In his final message to her he states that “They are here, and he has said he will provide aid.”

The party is reunited and promptly sealed out of the conflux. Cliah is disturbed as he has become corrupted during the conflict with the Darklings. He and Melfiso attempt to sneak away to “do what must be done” only to be stopped by Charlie who convinces Cliah to stay with them and see their current quest to its completion. He agrees under the condition that as soon as his mind is not his own Melfiso is to kill him immediately. Rumpf shares with them that she has an idea of a sort of a machine that she may be able to design that could potentially purify the corruption, she appears to be rather confident that it will work but states that she will need to return to the Imperium to construct it.

The party gathers themselves and begins their journey back to Obril with hopes that the village is still standing. During the journey, Charlie notices a sort of black ash that appears to be coating the ground and foliage. The trek back to the village is uneventful and they use the time to synthesize the antidote they will need to cure the villagers. Tess regains her voice as the effects of her own spell wear off.

The party is relieved to see that Obril is still standing, however there have been a lot of casualties. They are greeting by Captain Anderson and Captain Norton who give them the report on what is happening. When the poisoned people die they immediately become undead zombies. They have been burning people who are about to die on the pyre to prevent them from turning. They are led to the triage and Tess and Ethan heal some of the people who wouldn’t survive long enough for the antidote to take effect.

Tess sees the young girl, Miranda, that she healed before leaving for the conflux. She is helping where she can. Captain Anderson tells Tess that Miranda watched both of her parents succumb to the poison and put to the pyre. Her father told him she has an uncle in the Imperium a man named, Bernard Graball, and that she should be taken to him. Tess agrees to take her there. The antidote is given to all the survivors, and Tess uses what’s left of her magic to purify as much food and water as she can. The party are also introduced to a lizard folk who has been helping the village, much to distain of Captain Norton though he can somewhat put his bigotry aside. They learn that his name is Vaz.

It is decided that Obril is lost and the survivors decide that it should be burned. The surviving villagers have all made their own plans, but everyone decides that Ethril is their next destination. That night the party gathers together to discuss their plans. They decide that they will continue to Ethril to meet Ethan’s family and then they will figure out where to go from there. Tess looks in on Gaiel who hasn’t regained consciousness despite Tess’ healing. Tess is worried but isn’t able to figure out what is wrong and forces herself to focus on the task at hand. Orkzim tells them about there being some other being living within Gaiel, but exactly what it is remains a mystery.

Rumpf shares a theory with the party. She believes that The Cult of the Black Eye may be attacking paladins and clerics to weaken the gods, since gods are manifestations of their believers, so if the god’s followers and devotees are eliminated then the god’s influence and power will diminish.

The next morning the caravan is assembled and Obril is burned and they set off for Ethril.

The caravan travels uneventfully for the first day of travel. The party receives some more information from Norton about the looming war. Dwarven raiding parties have been attacking elven traveling parties and small encampments.

Tess and Miranda spend a lot of time together flying around on the giant eagle. The second day of travel Tess spots a looming ambush ahead of them and a party of dwarves attempting to flank the caravan.

The caravan is immediately stopped and the wagons are circled and the soldiers adopt a defensive position around it. The party charges head long toward the flanking dwarves who are completely surprised by the party’s attack. The party immediately gains the upper hand and is able is easily dispatch many the dwarves. Charlie notices that the ground has begun to shake, she calls this out to the party. Tess takes to the air on her eagle to gain a better perspective on the battle and to see what might be coming. Suddenly a large metal plated creature bursts forth from the ground and joins the fray. The dwarves appear to momentarily gain a morale boost at the presence of their trained Bullette, however the party’s tactics prove to be too much and the remaining dwarves are crushed and the Bullette flees after nearly falling.

The other party of dwarven ambush arrives just in time to see the Bullette flee and the rest of their group dead, and small force of Imperium solders, they flee wanting nothing more to do with the party or the caravan.

The rest of the trip to Ethril is uneventful. Orkzim and Antioch decide that is would be best if they remain outside of the city due to the current tensions between the elves and dwarves. Antioch tells the party to meet a man named D’sh at The Blooming Crouch tavern, he apparently owes Antioch a favor.

The party is now in Ethril and has a couple of days to catch their breath and handle any business they need to.

After narrowly escaping the Arioch stampede Tess finds herself separated from the party and has discovered a large cat like creature that has camouflaged itself quite effectively. She readies a spell however the beast doesn’t seem to be interested in the party as it grabs one of the dead Arioch’s and drags it away.

The party regains its composure and rests for a bit before packing up their camp and continuing on their journey to the Conflux, without the use of their beetle mounts as they ran off during the stampede.

They reach the conflux and set off on their tasks. Gaiel and Orkzim head to the river that is flowing through the conflux. Gaiel discovers that the water has healing properties. Upon entering the water Orkzim’s corruption begins to flow into the water and a large black feathered mass began to form.

Tess, Ethan, and Charlie encounter a strange looking butterfly that has an elf head attached to its body. He tells them to not take anything they did not bring with them. When Ethan tells him that all they wish to do is grow the seeds the butterfly man leads them to the perfect spot.

While Ethan and Charlie plant the seeds Tess wanders off to be alone for a moment. She realizes that she is in a place of great power, and that power may be what she needs in order to recover her lost memory. She takes out a yellow feather, which had been given to her after a vision, and prayed and focused. Slowly her lost memories began to trickle back into her mind. As she remembered her husband, daughter, and the rest of her family and life before Aiephoria she breaks down into tears.

Ethan and Charlie head to the river to retrieve some of the water for the seeds they just planted. They see the large black mass that is forming but return to their task at hand seeing as if they don’t get the Nander Root this whole trip would be wasted. After water the seeds Ethan begins the cast his druidcraft spell to speed up the rate that the seeds will grow. He is the first to learn that casting magic within the conflux is risky. He finds that his conscious binds with the seeds and he falls out of the normal flow of time. It appears to Charlie as if six seconds pass, but to Ethan three months pass.

During his three month vigil, watching yams grow, Ethan attempts to commune with The World Tree, and his spark. He is able to discern that his staff is a shard of a world or entity. He fights off insanity and his staff whispers,

“Summeris? Is that you?”

Ethan is able to resist insanity and successfully grows the Nander Root.

Gail shows up and tells them what has happened at the river, and Tess returns to Charlie and Ethan to help them gather up the root, and she appears to be distraught and an emotional wreck. With the Nander root gathered they join the rest of the party who find themselves under attack.

The large black mass in the river has been releasing large raven like creatures that have taken flight. Gaiel launches a conflux super powered lightning bolt and greatly reduces the raven numbers as well as causing damage to the mass. A miasma cloud engulfs a large number of the party as humanoid looking black droplets begin to form.

Tess, not yet knowing that her magic will be affected by the conflux, begins casting spells. Her first spell ends up with her inadvertently summoning a large eagle, a blessing from Orin, that stands by her to fight. However when she attempts to summon her spectral scythe the spell goes awry and she fills the battlefield with unintelligent scythes that begin whirling around hitting everything in their path. She attempts to protect herself with another spell, but instead causes herself to become a magnet for the dark entities. Using her eagle she is able to attract all of the Darklings to her with some relative safety. Ethan, against his better judgement, casts a Moonbeam spell which appears to have its desired effect, however it begins to grow exponentially, quickly filling the entire conflux and trapping the party within its effect.

During this battle the dragon spirit within Gaiel casts a spell that forces it from her body and then it presses itself into the body of Dhat-Badan (the butterfly thing) and then begins wrestling for control. The dragon manages to gain control and cast a dispel on the moonbeam to save the party from destruction.

In an attempt to rid herself of her errant spell that was attracting the Darklings, Tess attempted to use her Silence spell to create a small area around her that will cancel the effects of her spell, however the spell went wrong and she ended up silencing herself for three days.

During the mayhem of the wild magic the party became separated with Tess, Charlie, and Ethan running toward the nearest exit of the conflux, and manages to escape. Everyone else running the other way. After the moonbeam faded they turned toward the path that the others had taken. The Dragon Spirit dispelled the magic on Gaiel’s body and then re-enter her body. Dhat-Badan, once again in control of its body, sealed off the conflux trapping everyone except Tess, Ethan, and Charlie in the conflux.

Captain Anders puts Tess, Melfiso, and an unconscious Orkzim into jail cells for questioning. Tess and Melfiso inform Anders that the town’s water and food have been poisoned and they give him as much information as they can about Tabitha. At first he doesn’t believe them however Ethan arrives at the jail and can corroborate their story. Anders is still somewhat skeptical and decides to turn his attention to racial tensions surrounding the looming war with the dwarves. He tells them that word has already spread around the town about a dwarf being in the well and then ensuing violence toward him. Anders orders his guards to go to the tavern and take two of the dwarves that are staying there into custody for their own protection. Anders agrees to release Tess and Melfiso but insists on keeping Orkzim locked up. They warn him to ensure he is isn’t touched and to keep him separate from any other prisoners. The two of them return to the tavern where Tess, who is exhausted, immediate goes to sleep leaving any further investigation to the rest of the party.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, Ethan, and Gaiel investigate the room that Tabitha was staying in. They do not discover anything of use that would suggest where she was going or who she was.

Melfiso, who is at the bar, notices two of Anders’ guards enter the tavern and begin talking to the barkeep. They have come for the two dwarves that are staying there. There is a bit a scene but the two dwarves do go with the guards. Melfiso heads back to the jail with them to keep an eye on things. He learns the names of the dwarves are Antioch, a trader of forged goods, and Doro.

Against the earlier advice of Tess, and the current protests of Melfiso the guards lock Doro in the same cell as Orkzim, who has now regained consciousness. Doro, who is drunk, takes a drunken swing at Orkzim but fails to do any damage to him.

The next morning the guards and Melfiso find Doro lying dead in the cell with Orkzim acting rather strange and claiming that he had killed him, apparently unable to resist the corruption.

Tess awakens and begins searching for the party and getting caught up on what has transpired. She has several conversations with the party and everyone seems to be divided on what they should do.

Captain Norton believes that there is little that can be done for the town, and that protecting the party should be the top priority, and while the party does agree with him they do so with a heavy heart.

Rumpf offers two alternative solutions, the first being that they do go after the Nander Root and accept the fact they can’t save everyone but that path would save the most people. The other option would be Tess’ initial plan to set up a sort of triage using the parties divine magic users to heal as many as they could.

The party is heavily leaning toward leaving the village to its fate but decides to gather a little more information. Clia is not happy with the party’s apparent decision and tells them that he will go after the root on his own. Ethan convinces him to hold off to see if they can get him some of the seeds.

Ethan heads to the apothecary to learn more about the Nander Root and possible acquire some seeds so that they might be able to use his abilities to grow a lot of the root quickly. He learns that Nander Root is grown from simple Yam seeds under the influence of the Magic Conflux which is what makes them difficult to acquire. She does sell Ethan some of the seeds.

The rest of the party head back to the jail to free Orkzim, not wanting to leave him behind. When they arrive, they see Doro in the process of crushing a woman’s airpipe and spring into action. They quickly dispatch him and learn that he was in some state of undeath. Tess heals the woman and then proceeds in the jail cells to speak with Orkzim. He tells her that he thinks he can resist the corruption but they should take all precautions and keep him bound until they can figure something out. Tess turns to Antioch and uses some persuasive measures to finally talk him into hearing her out.

Tess asks Charlie to pick the locks on the jail cells while she went to talk to Anders. She asks Anders if she could take the dwarves and the rest of those traveling with her and leave the city. The captain tells her that he believes her about the poison and that he wants her to help cure the people of the poison. Tess tells him that while she and others in the party can cure some of the people they just can’t cure enough of them to make much of a difference. After some back and forth, Ethan joins them and echoes what Tess was saying. Eventually Ander’s agrees to let them all go, just before leaving Tess reaches out to shake his hand, in doing so she uses her magic to cure him of the poison.

The party heads back to the tavern to gather their forces and supplies and prepare to leave the Obril. On the way Tess stops back at the well, emotionally torn and on the edge of breaking down. She kneels before the well and prays with everything she has for Orin to somehow intervene or give her the strength to make the right choice. It is right then Rumpf approaches her.

“If we leave, they all die. 0%. If we stay and cure as many as we can, we save 20 to 30 at best. 25%. If we go after the Nander Root we save those who are strong enough to hold out, about 50%.”

It is in that moment that Tess realizes that she must save as many as she can even that involves walking right into a trap. With a sudden burst of anger and determination she storms up to Clia and tells him that she will accompany him to the Conflux even if no one else will. The rest of the party agrees to join her.

Before they leave Ethan and Tess use their magic to purify as much food and water as they are able. They decide to leave the soldiers behind to assist the town guard in keeping the peace. Seeing as they must be quick they decide to leave the students behind. They procure giant beetles which will cut down on their travel time.

As the party is leaving the town Tess spots a young half-elf girl, her emotions well up and she knows that she needs to try and safe one more life before embarking on what may be her last mission. She cures the young girl before heading out of town.

The party speeds along on their beetles, and they encounter a news courier who informs them that war has broken out. The dwarves have launched their attack. The party shares the information about the village of Obril in exchange.

While on the road Tess notices something about Gaiel, she has been acting unusual (for her) for the past couple of days. Other party members have voiced this to her as well. Gaiel seems to be focused and alert and not becoming distracted by mundane things. Tess talks to her, and asks if this is the same person she met before. Gaiel doesn’t answer.

Tess: Do I need to be concerned or worried about you hurting me?

Gaiel: Are you going to hurt me?

Tess: No, I told you that I will protect you from any who seek to harm you.

Gaiel: Then you have nothing to worry about.

The party travels a little while longer before they finally reach the Conflux, which lies on one of the new growth branches of The World Tree. While camping, they are caught up in a Aurioch stampede. Most of the party is able to escape harm, though Clia does get himself hurt quite seriously. After the stampede passes Tess notices an extremely large camouflaged cat like creature that had been chasing the stampede…

As I sit to meditate and make my tea I reflect on the journey behind. My first steps into becoming a monk of the four winds. I began with the passive wind thinking that this would be my only path. But then I took a life, anger set in. And I found myself going through and surrounded by the aggressive wind. I took many lives and even had to return a gift to sage because I felt unworthy. And frankly I have been that way for a while. But then I no longer feared myself or my ki. During our trip to the land of the Blue I found myself being able to see things within myself I never knew existed. Emotions I had never expected to have. It became a time to leave the strong winds of aggression. And seek out to transition to the wind of understanding. To understand, one must observe. Quieting the mind, putting thoughts into perspective. Seeking the smallest needs of those around. But the wind, the path of understanding is something that requires a still mind and a calming ki. I am sure my friends think I have lost it by constantly making tea and drinking tea. But it is when my mind, body and ki are at peace and can absorb all things around. It is how I make the tea and drink the tea that brings it to unity. The tea leaves reminds the senses of the stillness of the spirit of the trees. The water represents the flow of ki that is our essence. Then I use all of these things to gently heat the water and leaves just to my liking. This control of ki is what allows me see the things around and within me. Including the flow of ki. Charisma’s light especially shines, but is trapped like water held by a dam. I must say during our encounter I did manage to see that ki began to crack through. Ashford’s anger was quieted by empathy. As Tavoks pride by humility. Wisdom is really causing Tavok to shape into the humble and great King I know he will become. And Ashford’s anger is silenced not by vengeance but by empathy and love. Braith didn’t try to steal. She was instead heroic and selfless. I feel I stand to learn a lot from the two men whose primary position is to observe. Hawgr the fearless and Summaris the ever adaptive.

I have yet to make another attempt in using the elemental fist or focusing my ki. And yet still I have badly injured one and taken the lives of five others. What is becoming of me? I went from never have taken a life to claiming the lives of six possibly seven. While I did not look to start this fight I surely did not shy away from it. I do not regret my actions because all that are with me are alive. But will my body and soul commit civil war within me? The blood of the gods lays within me. While my of peace within thyself and love those around me are the teachings of a great sage. Remain at peace is of great importance to have peace externally. But to remain neutral in the time of slaughter and oppression chooses the side of the oppressor. And I can not do nothing when so much is at risk. Am I cursed to be given strength and not use it to help those without it? Ashford is fighting with a great loss in his soul. Conflicted with the chance that he may have to take the life of his future. And he still moves onward without hesitation. Seeing such strength within a man has shown me what real strength looks like, and causes me to question my own. Is the destiny of my blood and harmony of my soul meant to co-exist in one body? I must find tranquil resonance. All I can do is read and meditate in hopes that I can connect all that influences me. Whatever the result I can not allow for evil take hold on the innocent. Ashford is very much like my brother. Regardless of what happens I vow to help Ashford get his future back and put a stop to this until there is nothing left within me.

The battle with the Giant Spider was easily handled by a some-what coordinated attack (and ninja climbing skills). The spider was unable to land a single blow against the party members. In the aftermath of the conflict the party discovered that they were being followed and turned to confront the potential new threat. A young Dogo monk from the Dogo Village stepped forward and introduced himself as Melfiso. Clia quickly put the party at ease by ensure them that he knew him and that he was safe.

He brought news that the Dogo Village had been attacked by a large tentacle monster that came through the Way Gate, everyone had been killed. Melfiso told the party that he blamed them for this attack. After talking to Clia (gaining some insight on the party members) he decides to join them on their journey. As the party tell him about The Ways they mentioned Dayton. Melfiso is immediately interested and tells them that the black tentacle monster appeared to have a humanoid at its core and muttered the name “Dayton.” Not quite sure what to do with this information the party decides to continue forward as they are not prepared to fight it.

Before the party sets out Gaiel manages to find the spider’s nest and collects several spider eggs, a book (which turns out to be the journal of a seeker), a short sword with a faint enchantment (Charlotte), and some gold (Tess).

The party travels for a couple more days before arriving at a small trading village. The party is hoping to gather useful information and maybe even get a short respite from their trek up the World Tree. It becomes immediately apparent that Orkzim is attracting a lot of negative attention due to the current political situation involving the dwarves. Tess searches for armor and weapons from the local blacksmith and comes up empty handed, while Gaiel searches out the person who was named in the journal she found. She warns him that he was being hunted by the Seekers and the fact that they had made it so close was probably a sign that they knew where he was. After she takes care of that she asks him if he has any form of “love potion,” which he eventually provides something that may work for her. Gaiel then visits the apothecary seeking to offload her spider eggs which fetch a nice price.

Meanwhile back at the tavern the rest of the party is trying to enjoy themselves when a woman approaches them. She is acting strange and the party isn’t in the mood for her. After some prodding she reveals that her name is Tabitha Jilladrea and she has set up a test for the them to see if they are worthy to serve “The Dark Lord.” She continues by claiming that she has poisoned the water and food in the village and that the children, sick, and elderly will begin dying off rather soon, but the healthy should survive long enough for the party to save them. She instructs them to travel a week’s time to retrieve a root that can be used to synthesize an antidote. Gaiel returns to the apothecary to see if they have any of the root they need for the antidote, only to be informed that someone just bought all of it and they wouldn’t be able to restock for a couple of weeks.

Tess flat out refuses to undertake this “quest” and goes out in search the source of her poison. She discovers some sort of crystal within the well and has a good idea that it is the source. She returns to the tavern to get some help, and finds that other party members trying to get Tabitha drunk. Orkzim volunteers to be lowered down into the well to retrieve the crystal. When Orkzim reaches the crystal, he is wracked by pain and then the crystal disappears. Tess and Melfiso pull him out of the well only to find that the corruption has overtaken Orkzim. He attacks them and manages to wound Tess before they strike him down, unconscious. Melfiso suggests killing him there on the spot as they do not know how to cleanse the corruption. For a moment Tess considers it before remembering that the corruption can be resisted. The fight attracted the attention of the town guard, led by Captain Anders. He insists that they are confined and questioned. Tess realizes her best chance of saving lives in the village will be to get those in authority on her side, she agrees to go peacefully so long as there are no chains placed on her, Anders agrees and they all go to the jail.

The party was led to the elder of the Dogo village by a young half-elf by the name of Clia, which proved difficult for the party to pronounce so they took to calling him Clay. He told them they very deep down in the base of The World Tree. Ethan and Clia talked about how a special druid craft known as Treesong is used to either harvest or shape trees without harming the tree.

Clia lead the party to the elder of the Dogo who told them his elven name was too difficult of pronounce for the non-elven speaking of the world, as he was over 700 years old and as part of their tradition was to adopt more pieces to their name every century. Instead he gave them his human name, Edmond. He told the party that he had been guarding the Way Gate (the Door leading into The Ways) for over 500 years and that they were the first things to come through it.

Charlie asked him if he had ever heard about The Cult of the Black Eye, and he told her that the Dogo were sworn enemies of the Cult and in fact that is who they were primarily guarding the gates from.

Edmond and Ethan both confirmed that the nearest civilization was about three weeks travel from their current location. Edmond offered Clia’s services as a guide through the The World Tree and back to the surface. He also provides them with an introduction letter that should assist them should they need to connect with any of the other Dogo throughout the world.

The next morning the entire party prepped to for the journey. They decided to head for Ethan’s home of Ethril. Clia informed them of the various dangers that they might face on their ascent to the surface. Tess became acquainted with Captain Norton who is leading the soldiers and form a sort of a professional relationship, he respects the training and expertise that Tess has gained from her time with the Knighthood.

While on the road Clia and soldiers have disagreements over the way they are traveling. Clia seems to have difficulty understanding the soldiers and adding to it is somewhat social awkwardness there are quite a few misunderstands between them. During one such disagreement Tess notices that things have become quite heated and pulls Clia aside to figure out what is going on. He informs her that they have entered Dryad territory and the soldiers have been talking about wanting to copulate with the Dryads, this of course offends Clia. He informs Tess that Dryads are feminine tree spirits who lure men away and kill them. Tess and Captain Norton keep the soldiers in line while the Dryads do their best to tempt the men into straying. The group makes it through Dryad territory without losses.

The party is attacked by a group of seven Cockatrice. The soldiers successfully form a defensive perimeter around the non-combatant students and repel several attacks from the creatures. One of the soldiers, Robert, is turned to stone by the creatures. Ethan, Orkzim, and Clia take to the front lines in order deal with the threat. Ethan and Orkzim are petrified during the conflict. Tess and Gaiel use their spells to harry the creatures from the safety of the soldier wall, while Charlie ducks and dodges her way into favorable striking positions and is able to work with a small group of the soldiers to dispatch a couple of the creatures. Clia sustains several blows and falls unconscious, Tess, working with a defensive line dispatches a couple of the beasts, leaves the line and enters the fray directly. She heals Clia and then begins pounding the creatures with her mace. Charlie unleashes several spells herself from the backlines as a couple of Cockatrice attempt to attack the side of the column. Tess is able to land to final blow to the final beast. To Tess’ relief Clia informs her that the petrification only lasts 24 hours.

After the battle Gaiel, Charlie, and four soldiers are able to locate the Cockatrice nest and plunder it. Tess talks to Capt. Norton and they take a quick inventory and realize that once the petrification wears off they have escaped the battle without taking any losses. Tess feels good about this fact and is pulled out of her self-loathing (she feels responsible for the losses in The Ways). The group waits for the petrification to wear off and then they continue on their way. They eventually reach the base of The World Tree and Clia warns there will be larger and more dangerous creatures now.

The party comes across a cave that leads to the stairs that they need to climb, however their way is blocked by thick vines which try to grab them whenever they get close. Through some investigation they learn that they detect movement.

While Tess is investigating the vines for a way through she is suddenly wrenched into the air by a web like rope. Upon looking up the group sees a giant spider…

Session 2

The party rests for the night and gets an early start on the day. After some discussion, the party decides the aid the colleges in their expedition through the Mysterious Door. They agree that they should do this for free however and Charlie, Ethan, and Orkzim speak with Professor Rumpf to negotiate a deal to lead her team and help them. When they arrive, they meet a mage called Dayton who is from The Gilded, the party does their best to avoid him. Their negotiations are able to secure a promissory note for 125 gold pieces and 5 platinum rings. At the same time Tess and Gaiel talk to Professor Thornton however he is in no mood to negotiate and Tess is in no mood to deal with him and walks away.

The party decides to speak with the overseer of the dig site. After her encounter with Prof. Thornton, Tess wants to talk to the person who is “in charge” to see what sort of compensation the group can get for this mission. They once again encounter Dayton in passing. The Overseer, David, informs the party that should they be successful each member would be granted an Imperial Audience.

Tess discusses her previous experience inside of the door with the team leaders and the group decides that they will need to be shrouded within a Silence spell for the duration of the journey to prevent the mental assault. The group fashions some makeshift earplugs. Once everyone is assembled and prepared Tess approaches the door and pushes it open. While she is opening the door black miasma drips from her arm, as soon as the door opens the party leaders cast their Silence scrolls and they all begin to traverse the path inside.

The Ways

The lead group is led by Dayton and is comprised of a contingent of soldiers, the second group is led by Prof. Rumpf and is comprised of her fellow professors, students, and the party. The third group is led by Prof. Thornton and is comprised of the Timbook’s team. Each group is keeping up their own Silence spells.

As the group travels the Silence spells end and in the seconds during their recasting some of the members of the group begin to walk off the edge into the infinite abyss. Gaiel does her best to save as many as she can.

Tess feels the presence within her probing and whispering to her trying to persuade her to kill everyone present. To focus her mind and resist the voices she prays to Orin and her prayer is unheard, in fact she begins to have a crisis of faith.

With the Silence scrolls running low Tess ushers Rumpf to move faster in attempt to join their group with Dayton’s group to double their Silence time. One of the students begins to fall behind and Tess grabs him at first to try to keep in him the sphere of influence of the Silence spell. This effort fails and both the student and Tess fall outside of the Silence, and the mental assault ensues. Tess momentarily thinks about throwing the student over the edge but is able to resist and usher him into the spell once again. For some reason (probably the corruption) she isn’t quite as bothered by the whispering.

Charlotte looks back and notices that Thornton’s group has fallen out of view and no one in the party or group knows what happened.

With scrolls running low, the group happens upon a crossroads that branches off in three directions. The group decides on taking the left path which leads them to what appears to be a ruined castle. The gates open and a man greets them and ushers them inside. He introduces himself as O’Kenna.

O’Kenna tells the party that he is the last survivor from a world that is no longer in existence. The tells them that the place in which they currently travel is known as The Ways, a place in which there is no passage of time, a space that is in between, and it is located within the core of their world. He warns them of the coming of a great evil, The Finger, a legion of undeath that is being led by a dark god that seeks to take life on an unimaginable scale, and that the countries, spectrums, of the world need to be unified to have any hope of stopping it. Charlie questions whether The Cult of the Black Eye might have something to do with this group, O’Kenna isn’t sure but believes it could be likely.

The party asks him about Theophrastis and he tells them about him and how is was previously contained within an anti-magic field within the ring he possesses. He suggests that the party avoid him if possible.

O’Kenna can sense the presence of the tainted miasma within Tess and performs a ritual to draw it out of her. With the miasma removed Tess feels weakened, but her mind is clear and she can think clearly and returns to normal. O’Kenna shares the details of how and why he learned how to remove the miasma from people.

After reminding the party of the urgency of their new task he imparts the party, Rumpf, and Dayton with The Spark, a power which they do not understand. Dayton, ignoring warnings from O’Kenna, teleports away from the group.

O’Kenna tells the group that they must commune with all the gods of their world and convince them to gather the threads of the world before the dark lord can. He bestows upon the party with a few magical items and then leads them to a door which will take them to The Keeper of World Tree. The group proceeds through the door and are met by The Dogo, the guardians of the door, who escort the party to their leaders.

A Jet black 7-foot door on a stone monolith. The door is covered with symbols.

Non-Player Characters

Encountered

Filigree – Small Black/Silver Dragonkin

First met: The Chittering Rats Tavern, he provided the party information

Marv – An old man, soothsayer or seer

The party encountered this man after Filigree told us that he could help us get out of the city. During the process of scrying he began emitting dark smoke of ichor and then went crazy and attacked. He was incapacitated and then stabilized.

Curtis – Azuldan Town Guard

The party bribed him and his men (75gp) after the encounter with Tandor to have them leave us alone.

Stanton “Stan” – Student of Northrum College

Studying under Professor Rumpf at the ancient dig site, described as flatulent, frequently late, and interested in Clockwork Golems.

Professor Rumpf – Gnome. Northrum College.

Leading the excavation of the ancient dig site.

Professor Thornton – Gnome. “Timbooks” a rival school of Northrum.

Leading the excavation of the ancient dig site.

Theo Frastis – (Possible Enemy)

Possesses a ring which seems to allow the possession of other beings. Mentioned the names; Charisma, and O’Kenna.

The mercenary force of the kingdom of Aiephoria, mandatory service is required by all citizens. Tess is a cleric in service of the Knighthood.

The Seekers

A branch of the Gilded that hunts down rogue sorcerer’s to either bring them to the Gilded or eliminate them.

The Cult of the Black Eye

A group that is reportedly attacking clerics and paladins of all religious orders.

Keepers of the World Tree

The party doesn’t have a ton information on them, Ethan probably knows the most.

Northrum College

They are currently excavating at the ancient dig site and studying the mysterious door. The team is led by Professor Rumpf.

Timbooks College (I don’t remember if this is the real name)

They are currently excavating at the ancient dig site and studying the mysterious door. The team is led by Professor Thornton.

Journal

Agora – The Grand Imperium – Azuldan- The Chittering Rats Tavern

The party have all found their separate ways to The Chittering Rats tavern in the town of Azuldan within The Grand Imperium. Ethan and Charlotte are met by the dwarf Orkzim who joins them for drinks. A small dragon called Filigree slinks up to Ethan, Charlotte, and Orkzim and begins asking for drinks. The barkeep nervously approaches them and begin apologizing for Filigree. The party assures the barkeep that Filigree isn’t a bother and the group is rather enjoying his company.

In between drinks, Filigree tells the group some information about the current situation of the conflict between The Grand Imperium and the Free People (Rebels), and that his kind are in danger of xenophobic extermination. He provides the group with information about a group known as the Cult of the Black Eye, who have been attacking anyone associated with religion (mainly clerics and paladins). This catches the ear of Tess who is seated nearby with Gaiel, who introduce themselves and join in the conversation.

Tess informs the party that they are being pursued by Seekers and are looking to keep a low profile and get out of town. Ethan suggests that they make for the airship docks to potentially leave town and return to his home. Filigree offers them information about Remhard, the Skypirate. The group initially agrees to find the airship route and possibly help-out with the pirate issue before turning for the night. The party, Filigree, and the barkeep all agree to not share information about each other.

The next morning, Tandor, a Seeker of The Gilded arrives at the tavern and begins questioning the barkeep about their presence. Tess recognizes this as one of the Seekers that had she had encountered previously. In a fit of rage Tess launches into an attack against him. The party joins her the fight, however Tandor narrowly escapes. The battle caught the attention of the town guard that was being led by a man named Curtis. After some bribery, the guards leave let them go. Gaiel magically repairs the damage caused by the battle and Tess gives the barkeep some gold to cover the trauma of the encounter. Filigree offers the party information about a man named Marv who could help them find a safe way out of the city. After the ruckus, they have caused they decide to see Marv.

Marv, an older man of poor health, allows them in after Orkzim agrees to repay the debt that Filigree owes him. Marv is in possession of a large “crystal ball” (to which Gaiel becomes very interested in) in which he uses, at Charlotte’s request, to attempt to locate her mother. Upon using this crystal ball Tess notices that his eyes turn black while scrying, leaving behind some small black specks. He could determine that Charlotte’s mother was not within one-thousand miles of their current location.

Marv then began to search for a way out of the city for the party. When he began casting the spell black ichor began to cover his eyes and it appeared to move with a will of its own. The ichor began to drip from his eyes and appeared to be acidic. His eyes turned black and he began to speak;

Mountains crash from the skies.

He will come, we will all serve him.

Shadowed heralds.

He comes.

He comes from the void.

The god slayer comes.

Marv collapses with a strange black smoke and ichor. Tess rushes over to stabilizes him with her magic, in the process she inhaled some of the black smoke. During the commotion Orkziv regained the gold that he gave to Marv to pay for Filigree’s debt.

In the back of Tess’ mind a whisper begins to tell her;

“Visit the dig site. Convince them to go to the ruin. Destiny awaits. Bring me to him. Kill the monk.”

Tess, having endured the recent emotional trauma of losing her friend and then failing to avenge him, gives in to the voice and convinces the party to go to the dig site.

Agora- The Grand Imperium – Ancient Dig Site

While on the road towards the dig site the party encounters a guard patrol that tells them how to get to the dig site, but also informs them that there is a long list of people trying to get to study.

As the party nears the dig site they encounter a young man who introduces himself as Stan, short for Stanton, as a student from the Northrum College. The group asks him if he can get them inside. He tells them that he can offer their services to his professor which will allow them access to the dig site. He tells them that they found a large door that might be of interest to the Keepers of the World Tree.

Upon arrive the party meets Prof. Rumpf a gnome who oversees the Northrum College’s excavation team. She shows the party the door in which Stan had told them about. The party converses with the professor about the door. During this time Tess and Gaiel both touch the door and are overcome by the sound of thousands of screams.

Ethan seems to see the door differently than the others, instead of jet black he sees the door as white.

Tess asks Rumpf about the presence of a monk. The professor says that there are no monks at the dig site but does tell her about a symbol on the door what looks like a triangle smashing into a circle. The symbol references a balance like the word “monk,” worshipers, cultists. It also means: where gods do not tread. Gaiel informs Tess through a message that the gods fear this place. The monk is in the center of the world.

Tess walks back up to the door and touches it. A vision pierces her mind, her senses are overwhelmed by the screams and the symbol changes from an upside-down triangle crashing into a circle, into an image of a mountain crashing into the world. The rest of the party see the same black ichor dripping from Tess’ hand and then she falls back away from the door. She shares this vision with the professor, who vigorously records the information.

Rumpf tells the party about the rival college team across the way who is trying to “make a find” before them. She tells them that they stole a bunch of small discs from her. Tess storms off toward the rival camp, with Gaiel in tow close behind her. With a bit of convincing Tess and Gaiel can talk to the professor who is leading this operation, a Professor Thornton. They find him applying oil to one of the small discs that Tess suspects once belonged to Rumpf. They share some information with each other, and while the professor is distracted by the conversation with Tess, Gaiel manages to pilfer one of the discs.

Meanwhile, Charlotte sneaks her way into the rival camp and finds a small tent and goes inside and attempts to open a footlocker but triggers a trap and a cage surrounds the tent and Charlotte is trapped. She manages to talk her way out of the situation and returns to the door with the rest of the party.

Tess and Gaiel return the disc to Prof. Rumpf who excitedly begins inspecting it. Tess informs her that the other professor had applied some sort of oil to it, which revealed many runes that were previously not visible.

Tess immediately walked up to the door and pushed it open, and then with the spell Thaumaturgy caused the door to slam open. The entire area was overcome by the screams of a thousand voices. Professor Rumpf used one of her scrolls of Silence to silence the area of the screams. Tess stepped through the door. She saw an unnaturally flat single path that appeared to go on forever. On either side of the path was an endless nothing. In the back of her mind Tess can hear voices compelling her to jump into the abyss, she can resist it and decides to go back through the door. With another cast of Thaumaturgy and a witty one-liner Tess slams the door closed, and then walks over and sits against the wall to reflect on what she saw.

The party notice a strange gnome staring right at Tess and mumbling to himself. They approached him and he begun mumbling something about someone called Charisma. They notice a large ring on his finger. He introduces himself as Theo Frastis, and mumbles a lot of what seems like nonsense. Tess notices him staring at her and charges over to confront him. Charlotte attempts to snag the ring and fails. He mumbles something about always wanting to be a woman. Suddenly the ring disappears from the gnome’s finger and appears on Charlotte’s. Charlotte then says,

I have done my part, now O’Kenna needs to do his

Tess attempts to smash the ring and is repelled. Soon after the nonsensical mumbling Charlotte appears to have returned to normal.

The adventure log is where you list the sessions and adventures your party has been on, but for now, we suggest doing a very light “story so far” post. Just give a brief overview of what the party has done up to this point. After each future session, create a new post detailing that night’s adventures.

One final tip: Don’t stress about making your Obsidian Portal campaign look perfect. Instead, just make it work for you and your group. If everyone is having fun, then you’re using Obsidian Portal exactly as it was designed, even if your adventure log isn’t always up to date or your characters don’t all have portrait pictures.